THE MADISON CEMETERY from https://www.docsouth.unc.edu/neh/rudd/rudd.html On one occasion I was at church and heard a fine sermon. At the close I noticed a Mr. Barnett, a citizen of this county. He said: "My business here is to see the colored people of this community. The grave yard in which your forbears and mine have been buried for many years belongs to the railroad. The entire tract of 80 acres in which the cemetery is located, will eventually be used for the R. R. and as we have no deed to the land they can dig up the bodies and put them in the fill for cars to run over. The officials of the R. R. say that if we will have the land surveyed and pay the cost of it, the company will deed us seven or eight acres." I replied: "Mr. Barnett you are right, we should do something. We will now take a collection." Sixteen dollars was collected by the colored people of this community and not a dollar by the whites. About three months later Mr. Barnett came to my brick kiln where I was burning brick. He was accompanied by the county surveyor. He said: "Uncle Scott, I have been all over town and could get no one to help me survey the grave yard." He said he had done his best and there was nothing to do but for the surveyor to go back. I said: "That will not do. I will take my son and we will go and do the work as that is a very important job." We both stopped and in a half a day had surveyed the cemetery. White and colored for 50 years had buried promiscuously in that grave yard. After the survey, the railroad made a deed. Mr. Barnett had three white men appointed as trustees for the cemetery and bought net wire, and fenced in all that part of the lands that was of any service for burying and prohibited any colored people from burying in it. I then gave the matter serious thought. It looked very hard, as we colored people had furnished all the money and done all the work. I went to the trustees and asked them if they thought it fair, after we had furnished all the money and done all the work, to cut us off from burying in the same grave yard in which for over a half century our relatives had been buried. I was told that they were handling the business to suit themselves and no Negroes will be allowed to bury there. I asked what would be done about those already buried there. If we would be allowed to go in and beautify the graves of our relatives. They said, "No this is a white grave yard and we will allow no tresspassing." I told them all right. I believed the Lord would provide for us. He always had. "I own three acres of land, a beautiful spot lying north of and adjacent to the old grave yard and I am going to make my people a present of this spot for a grave yard. That will only leave a hair's breadth between the white and the Negro grave yard.["] A few days later I walked into a grocery store and met two of these trustees. They said they had thought over what I had said, about the piece of land I was going to give the colored people, and they had decided that the better way to do would be for me to deed that piece of land to the white people and they would give the old grave yard to the colored people. I told them I could not agree with them, because if it would be a disgrace to be buried with those now living, it would be disgracing those that are already dead, and that it was not my object to disgrace anyone. I always thought that it was better to elevate than to degrade. I then immediately deeded this piece of land to my people free of charge. Posts were hauled, a net wire fence put around the land, and a house was built for tools for the cemetery. As told by Scott W Bond